I've enjoyed "High Fantasy" for a long time now, but there are ways in which it strikes me as being in something of a rut.
With not nearly enough exceptions to my taste, Fantasy novels are "voyages of discovery" type novels. Now, any character should develop and grow over the course of a book, but what I mean is this.
How many of the protaganists in Fantasy Novels start out as young, discovering they have a power (or destiny or something) and set out on an epic voyage of discovery, finding their "inner hero"
For instance, currently I'm reading The High Lord, which is the third book in the Black Magician Trilogy by Trudy Cananvan. Now, to this point, it's been a most enjoyable series. The heroine is appealing, the mystery is good and the like.
Yet, on another level, it just doesn't seem to be anything new. Sonea is a young girl who lives in the worst part of the city. The Magic Guild has a monopoly on magic in that culture. However, as a rule they've never tested anyone other than the children of the nobility. Generally, you need to have someone "awaken" your powers in you, but Sonea's powers awaken on their own. So, suddenly, this slum girl is in the Guild, and learning her powers, and the usual threat to the city/nation/world.
How many books have that kind of general plot? Seriously. Young person discovers they have powers, and goes from there.
Offhand
The Belgariad/Mallorean
Most of the books in the Recluse series
Pug in Feist's series
Drake's Crown of the Isles
Wheel of Time
How many more do I need to list?
Now, I've enjoyed most of them (not a big Jordan fan).
Still, though, the sameness is getting... old.
Maybe that's why I think that the Elenium/Tamuli from Feist is better. There, you have Sparhawk... who is a veteran knight. Maybe even a hair past his prime. His nature as a hero is already established. Now, he's about to learn a great deal about himself (Anakha), but still, it is a very refreshing change for a character to start a series as an established hero, and then "get to work", instead of starting off as callow/smartaleck/wise beyond his years type youth.
